Tommy Hilfiger's Top 10 Milestones

For over 26 years, the Tommy Hilfiger brand has been bringing reinterpreted Americana to the masses, and the man behind it all is being honored tonight with the Council of Fashion Designers Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award. A lifetime achievement honor might signal the beginning of the end for some, but to Hilfiger, it's just another moment in an already-rich career. In his own words, "I'm honored, I'm grateful, I'm humbled—but I'm not done yet." Nobody would accuse the man of ever having slacked off, especially in the past few years as he's been aggressively evolved the brand's aesthetic. "Years ago, I think the Tommy guy was everybody," Hilfiger says, "and now, I think he is more modern." We caught up with Hilfiger just before the big night to have the designer tell us, in his own words, about the ten biggest menswear moments in his career.

Photo: Courtesy of Tommy Hilfiger

1. Grand Opening

_In 1969, with just $150 saved up, Hilfiger opened his first store, People's Place, in his hometown of Elmira, NY. _

"I really started out just having fun. I wasn't serious about business at all. I wanted to look like a rock star, I wanted to dress my friends like rock stars, and I wanted to play the loudest coolest music in the store, burn incense, and live sort of a hippie-type existence. I learned the hard way that if you're gonna be in business, you really have to pay attention to the business. After I had a bankruptcy at a very young age, I decided to really focus on building a business and being serious about it. So when I started Tommy Hilfiger it was all about really developing a brand for America, for men in America. I never thought at that time that it was gonna be a global lifestyle brand. But as time went on, all of the pieces started sort of falling into place. And a few years later, I decided I wanted to expand it worldwide and build it into a global lifestyle brand, so I took my preppy influence and started planting it in different parts of the world, and it worked. _[Laughs] _Somehow it worked."

Photo: Courtesy of Tommy Hilfiger

**2. The GQ Run-Through **

_In 1985 Hilfiger joined forces with Mohan Murjani, the man behind the Gloria Vanderbilt brand, to launch his namesake line. GQ creative director Jim Moore came to see the first collection in Murjani's showroom. _

"I really started out just having fun. I wasn't serious about business at all. I wanted to look like a rock star, I wanted to dress my friends like rock stars, and I wanted to play the loudest coolest music in the store, burn incense, and live sort of a hippie-type existence. I learned the hard way that if you're gonna be in business, you really have to pay attention to the business. After I had a bankruptcy at a very young age, I decided to really focus on building a business and being serious about it. So when I started Tommy Hilfiger it was all about really developing a brand for America, for men in America. I never thought at that time that it was gonna be a global lifestyle brand. But as time went on, all of the pieces started sort of falling into place. And a few years later, I decided I wanted to expand it worldwide and build it into a global lifestyle brand, so I took my preppy influence and started planting it in different parts of the world, and it worked. _[Laughs] _Somehow it worked."

Photo: Courtesy of Tommy Hilfiger

3. Hanging Tough

_In 1985 legendary art director George Lois created a bold advertisement, playing on the game Hangman, that listed Hilfiger's name amongst the biggest American designers at the time: Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, and Perry Ellis. The ad hung on a billboard in Times Square. _

"I was scared. George Lois is a genius. He really created the whole idea. I was a young guy starting out, nervous as hell about my existence, and he and Mohan Murjani convinced me that it would be a great idea. It was a great idea because everyone within a very short amount of time learned the name, and then I had to live up to the name. A lot of times people have very interesting product and their name is not known. My name was known and my product was nowhere, so I had to work really had to get the product up to the level of the name."

Photo: Courtesy of Tommy Hilfiger

**4. Taking Stock **

_In 1992 Tommy Hilfiger became the first designer company to go public, with its listing on the New York Stock Exchange. The influx of cash gave Hilfiger the opportunity to grow his brand further. _

"It was major, because we needed money to expand. And that gave us all the money we needed to open stores, shops, advertising, hire people, do everything we needed to."

Photo: Courtesy of Tommy Hilfiger

5. Street Cred

_In the mid '90s, the Tommy Hilfiger brand took to the streets. Suddenly Hilfiger's oversized, primary-color creations were being worn by an audience not usually associated with the preppy look. _

"We had been seeing it before. It was bubbling. I thought it was fun and funny, it was like a phenomenon I've never seen. All these trends we did were kind of fun. And it took hold."

Photo: AP

6. Mantelpiece

_The Council of Fashion Designers of America, or CFDA, named Hilfiger the Menswear Designer of the Year in 1995, his first-ever award from the organization. _

"It was a milestone, at that moment in time, but I quickly forgot about it because I didn't want to ever become enamored with awards and praise, because I thought it doesn't really get you anywhere. You still have to work hard on the product, and you can't get sidetracked with either your fame or believing what they write, because you have to always keep very grounded and balanced."

Photo: Courtesy of Tommy Hilfiger

7. Getting Some Satisfaction

An ardent music fan, Hilfiger sponsored the Rolling Stones' "No Security" tour in 1999. The Stones remain one of Hilfiger's favorite bands, and the tour set the stage for the brand to work with future artists.

"It was very exciting for that moment, and after that we sponsored Lenny Kravitz and a number of others. It became part our history, but that was a milestone."

"I was thinking, 'you know what? It works' because there's something a little bit, I would say, middle America about it. It's a little something Texan, a little something country western too. It's with a wink, with a nod."

Photo: Courtesy of Tommy Hilfiger

9. The Sporting Life

_Hilfiger has dressed athletes from every sport, most notably soccer star Thierry Henry who served as the face of the brand in 2006. _

"Athletes have just always worn the brand. Initially it happened because in the '80s and '90s everything was oversized, so we were oversized, and the athletes loved it—they loved wearing the clothes that fit."

Photo: Getty Images

10. Silver Anniversary

_In 2010, during New York Fashion Week's first season at Lincoln Center, Hilfiger threw a huge celebration that brought out the fashion world and beyond to honor the brand's 25th anniversary. _

"It was a celebration not only for me, but for everyone at Tommy Hilfiger who has been so instrumental in making this dream come true."

For over 26 years, the Tommy Hilfiger brand has been bringing reinterpreted Americana to the masses, and the man behind it all is being honored tonight with the Council of Fashion Designers Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award. A lifetime achievement honor might signal the beginning of the end for some, but to Hilfiger, it's just another moment in an already-rich career. In his own words, "I'm honored, I'm grateful, I'm humbled—but I'm not done yet." Nobody would accuse the man of ever having slacked off, especially in the past few years as he's been aggressively evolved the brand's aesthetic. "Years ago, I think the Tommy guy was everybody," Hilfiger says, "and now, I think he is more modern." We caught up with Hilfiger just before the big night to have the designer tell us, in his own words, about the ten biggest menswear moments in his career.